|
David Cutler, Mark McClellan, Joseph Newhouse
NBER Working Paper No. 6514
Issued in April 1998
NBER Program(s): AG
HC
An NBER digest for this paper is available.
The NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health provides summaries of publications like this.
You can sign up to receive the NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health by email.
---- Abstract -----
This paper examines the causes and consequences of reductions in cardiovascular disease mortality, and in particular heart attack mortality, over the past several decades. Analysis of data from Medicare and review of the clinical literature indicate that a large share of the recent decline in heart attack mortality is a result of new medical interventions and increased use of existing interventions. Much of the mortality improvement appears to be the result of changes in the use of pharmaceuticals such as aspirin and clot-busting (thrombolytic) drugs. Greater use of these and other intensive medical procedures have increased the cost of treating heart attacks but have also lead to health improvements. We estimate that the value of improved health is greater than the increased cost of heart attack care, so that the cost of living for people with a heart attack is falling. We present preliminary evidence that patients in managed care receive nearly similar treatment for heart attacks compared to patients with traditional indemnity insurance, but that managed care insurers pay less for the same treatments than do traditional insurers.
Would you like an annual subscription to NBER Working Papers? Click
here for more information.
You may purchase this paper on-line in .pdf format
from SSRN.com ($5) for electronic delivery.
Information for subscribers and others expecting no-cost downloads
Machine-readable bibliographic record -
MARC,
RIS,
BibTeX
| 
